The La Mesa City Council voted 5-0 Tuesday to approve the use of a federal grant to buy a bulletproof armored rescue vehicle, which can be used to protect passengers from assault weapons.

The BearCat, as it’s known, will be purchased for about $300,000 from the Urban Area Security Initiative grant. The city of La Mesa will pay in advance for the vehicle, which will take 5-6 months to be built, and be reimbursed when the grant money comes through.

“I would not be standing up here if I felt it was frivolous,” Aceves told the council. “We do recognize it is a big purchase, but this is a family-friendly suburban town, and we want to keep it that way. It goes more to improve our image as a city that wants to take care of its residents and officers.”

Image: inventorchris/Flickr (for illustration) The St. Mary’s County Commissioners have approved the purchase of a more-than-quarter-of-a-million-dollar tactical armored vehicle for the sheriff’s department’s emergency services…